The Reackless Redhead
by Nikki Bats
Summary: World War Two was a hard time for woman. They could not go to war, but that was what Florence Quinn was going to do. She has been an orphan since she finished high school, and her cousin James "Bucky" Barnes is going off to fight Nazis. She is alone here, but thinks she will see her cousin on the front lines. This is her untold story of how she lived to see the end of the war.
1. When Everything Fails

She looked at the recruiting station and sighed. She is going to be alone in a week, no one to talk to or even see alive. Her parents have been dead since she was eighteen. Bucky was the only one alive still and he is going to war. Florence Quinn didn't want to be left behind, but she knew that she would have to change everything. Only men were aloud to fight over seas, women were expected to fight the household battles and build for their husbands over seas.

She took a sharp intake of air when some ones hands landed on her shoulders. Her attacker gave a full laugh as he turned her around. "Bucky, you know I scare too easily!" she exclaimed, slapping her hand on his chest.

He laughed again and pulled her into a tight hug. "I'm going to miss you Florence." She pulled away from Bucky, her hands on his shoulders.

"Hey, we still got a week. We got a bunch of crazy things to do," she said, trying to get the mood back up. She knew he was sad to leave her and all of his friends but she wanted him to be happy for this last week before going to war.

He smiled slightly and Florence pulled him toward a ice cream cart. "First thing, you need some chocolate to pick you up a bit. Can't have Sargent Barnes crying on the floor before we even do anything."

New York was beautiful at night, especially in Central Park. Florence and Bucky were just walking through the park, reminiscing about the old days when everyone was happy. Everything was just nice about the night; it was a cooler and clear night for May but it felt night considering the week had been sweltering. Everyday, Florence would come home from her job as a waitress at Gabe's and her body would be on fire. It was only May! Her ginger hair has been in a ponytail all week because her neck would get to hot under the suns burning rays.

"I don't want to leave you Flower," Bucky said finally as they looked out over the city. "You don't have any relatives after I leave."

"You have to go," she told him strictly." You have to go and beat the Nazis so you can come back and live a life without that threat over your head and mine."

He nodded knowing Florence was right, but she was a sister the him. They have known each other long enough that they are like brother and sister, not cousins.

"You have got to stop making me feel sad," she told him as the stood up from the grass and started toward the bus stop. "I am trying to make you happy for your last week before the war and you keep making it seem like I should be crying on the floor."

"Well maybe you should, you brother is going away," Bucky said as they waited for the bus. "But I know you are too strong for that. You'll write to me right?"

"That's a rhetorical question right?" Florence raised an eyebrow and stepped onto the full bus to Brooklyn. "I'll write as long as you write back, and you better mister."

He laughed but nodded. This is what he was going to miss, her constant sass and backtalk. He will just have to come back to hear it again.

"I'll see you soon Bucky," Florence said as she jumped off of the bus. "Try not to get too sad before I see you next."

She winked as the bus peddled away. She let out a long sigh as she finally sat down on her worn-out couch. She was living on minimum wage, a new couch that hasn't been slept on for nearly fifteen years wasn't in the budget. He small apartment had a bedroom and bathroom, the bedroom had the only working door in the whole apartment. She had her worn-out couch and a coffee table and a radio in her living room; the coffee table acted like a dining table most of the time. Her apartment looked like any collage kids would, just slightly cleaner because her cloths were neat and she threw things away. There was a wall of books that seems to get fuller every time she steps foot into 'home' across from the crimson couch. This was home to her, and she liked her small piece of heaven even if it wan't too pretty.

She went to her pantry to find a bag of crackers to snack on before trying to get some rest. She always seems to end up will morning shifts, not that she minds. She has always been a morning person and nothing is better than getting to silently make fun of not-morning people every weekday.

She looked down at her thin watch to see that it was already nine thirty. It has been a long day for her; Bucky being just one of the many things to cross her mind for a long period of time. She decided to call to quits for the day and headed to the bedroom. Once her head hit the pillow, every thought left her mind. Sleep overcame her quickly and for the first time in a long time, she dreamt of her dead family.


	2. They Need a Woman

Florence woke up and quickly looked down at her watch. She over slept and now only had thirty minutes to het into Midtown, ready for work. She jumped out of bed and rushed to get her uniform. He quickly tied the peach apron around her waist and grabbed and apple and her purse and keys; she made a run for the door to catch the bus. This is why she tries to be a morning person and she normally is by it was Monday.

She ran out of the lobby just in time to see a bus arrive. She quickly paid the fee and sat down in the back frazzled. Florence started to fix her hair with her fingers, which was still knotted from sleep. She thought that she must have been more tired than she thought. Florence looked down at her red button dress to see it completely misbuttoned. She inwardly groaned at her stupidity and turned away from the other passengers and quickly rebuttoned it up; she was completely embarrassed that she had to dress in front of a full bus, although she was fairly positive no one saw.

She hopped off of the bus at 7th and ran into Gabe's; she grabbed a ribbon hanging on the counter and stood in line for the morning pep-talk. She gave a sigh of relief as it had not started yet. The kitchen door flung open and everyone jumped at the slamming sound that erupted as it hit the wall. Gabe was a short man, just barely taller than Florence who was 5'3", and had the attitude of a heavyweight boxer. He said it had always been a dream of his to cook at a diner. He is the only man that Florence has met that has really tried for his childhood dream.

"Alright, everybody ready for breakfast?" Gabe asked loudly, his voice bouncing off of the small diner's walls. Everyone nodded, now fully awake. "Good. The special for today is two egg skillet with hash browns and bacon, ham, or sausage. Will has your table assignments."

Once again, everyone nodded and dispersed into their assigned areas after Gabe disappeared into the kitchen. I share my tables with Ruth today, we have the front tables close to the windows. Once the clock struck seven, the music started and customers started in file into the diner. Breakfast shift normally last until noon and then the lunch waiters takeover fully. Five hours on her feet and Florence will just walk to the library down the street for the next five hours. She had to get though this first.

Ruth got the first table of two businessmen. Florence waited until a familiar face sat down. "Hey, Peggy! I didn't know you we in town!" She sat down across from her.

"Hello Florence! It was kind of short notice I couldn't send ahead. I'm sorry," Peggy said apologetically.

"It's fine," Florence said standing up seeing other people sit down. "Do you want me to start you on some coffee?"

"That would be fine. I need to talk to you after your shift though."

"Its going to be awhile Peggy," Florence said as she sped off for the coffee.

Florence returned with Peggy's coffee and asked for her order and the shift went on. It went by quite quickly after Florence told Peggy to wait in the library down the street. What bothered Florence was what was Peggy needing to tell her. Was it life-threating? She did not send a letter and she normally does.

Florence walked down the bustling street to the three story library. She always came here after work, it helped her calm down after a busy shift. Today, she could share it with someone. She walk in a greeted Mrs. Copper and asked if she saw Peggy.

"She is on story three, darling," she said walking over to an empty book shelf. Florence quietly said her thanks and walked up to Peggy.

She found her with a file in front of her and a newspaper. Florence put her bag down and sat across from Peggy. "So, what do you need to talk to me for?"

Peggy looked up from her paper and opened the file. There was a huge red stamp of 'classified' across the cover of it. "I know your father taught you some things to protect yourself after your mother was attacked and I know you don't want to use your talents, but I have a job for you that could end the war."

Florence hung her head low. Her father taught her extreme self-defense after her mother was robbed by thugs one day. She never used it because it made her father angry at her; it ultimately ended their relationship. He was a trained but retired assassin. "What job do you have? What do I have to do?"

Peggy got out a paper with four names on it, Walter Brooks, Paul Washington, David Moore, and Glenn Robinson. She got out another paper with Adolf Hitler on it. "We are trying to put together an attack team to go after Hitler and kill him. These four were chosen based on their ability, but I think you should be put on the roster because you know how people think better than any of our other choices."

"Peggy, I've never even fought against anyone other than my father. How does that make me qualified?"

"You have the best hand-to-hand combat skills that I've ever seen. You also can read people by just their body language better than even a psychologist," Peggy raised an eyebrow at her. "You really think you're not qualified, because you cannot shoot a gun?"

Florence nodded, embarrassed at the fact that Peggy know everything. Peggy continued, "I want you on the team because a testosterone run operation will end with too many casualties; you will be the word of reason."

Florence look at Peggy for a moment, thinking over the reasons. Than a thought came crashing in. "Do they know the person you are getting is a woman?"

"I may have left out that detail."

"They will never let me go over seas. The army doesn't want female soldiers. Peggy, I would have to change everything to look like a boy!"

"Hey, I never said it was going to be easy. You are searching for the most evil man in world history."

"Peggy," Florence look up from the papers to catch Peggy's eyes. Hope was swelling in her heart; she would not have to be left alone here anymore. "When do we leave?"

Peggy's eyes were filled with shock. "I thought it was going to take a lot more persuasion. Are you not afraid to fight with only four people backing you up?"

"You said it wasn't going to be easy and besides, I need a new adventure. There's nothing here anymore, I should spend my spare time trying to end the war."

Peggy nodded with a bright smile on her face. "Well, I should tell you the basics of what you are going to do. But you are going to leave on June 25 for Camp Lehigh in Virginia."

"That's so far away. Why wait so long; it could take years to find him and survive," Florence looked at Peggy oddly. "Why are you telling me about it so early? Isn't it a little bit dangerous for me to know about it?" She motioned toward the red 'classified' on the folder.

Peggy rummaged through the folder and pulled out a paper with 'training' written in bold black letters on the top. "Because you don't have military training, we need you to learn some of it. We are having a special training camp in May that you will be attending, but you are going to have to cut your hair a bit. They don't think you are going to be a woman."

Florence rolled her eyes at her. "How many times to I have to tell you, do not lie to the government."

"I didn't lie, I simple withheld the truth," Peggy said, starting to collect papers. "But I still think you are the correct choice for the last member of the team. You have to prove yourself though, to everyone. They have no idea who you are or what you can do; you'll just have to show them everything and they won't be able to say no."


	3. May Suns

Florence followed Peggy into the barbershop and she held her breathe. She had never cut her hair shorter than her collarbone, and today she is getting it cut like a boy would. To say she was scared was an understatement. They were three miles outside of the Camp Lehigh, tomorrow Florence would start her military training. She didn't know what she was getting into, but she know that no one wants she to be a woman.

"So, what do you want today?" the barber asked.

"Fred, she needs a masculine hair cut," Peggy said sitting down across from Florence. "This one looks good."

Florence looked at the picture of the short pixie-cut on the girl on the paper; she gasped. "That! I've never seen anyone with that, at least any girls."

"Well you aren't going to a girl scout camp Flower," Peggy said laughing, nodding to Fred to begin. Florence's hands covered her mouth as her long hair fell to the floor. Her eyes were filling with mix-emotion tears. "Hey, are you okay Flower?"

"Yeah, I'm just sad that I am losing all my hair but happy because of what's to come," she said, tears still forming in her eyes but she was happy. She took a shaky breathe before speaking again. "We need to get a drink after this."

Peggy laughed but had the barber keep cutting her hair. It took over an hour for Florence's hair to be to par with what Peggy wanted. She was spun around to a mirror. Her hands instantly shot up to her scalp, her hair was slightly longer that in the picture but still shorter than the collarbone.

"Well," Peggy said, apprehensively. Shock was written on Florence's face. She had no idea had to react to this.

"Just give me a few years and I'll be okay with having this short of hair," she said, toying with her hair to see how long it could, just to her ears. "Why did I have to agree to go with along with you? I could have just put a wig on."

"You will be fine," Peggy said, waving off her new idea that would have worked better. "You only have to act like a man for a week or so. Than you have to worry about the team finding out and everyone else that comes in contact with you." Florence gave her a dirty look. They walked out into the bustling street and the burning sun. "I will treat you too that drink though, later."

Florence huffed and continued walking toward the car they arrived in. They were now off to Camp Lehigh; Florence didn't want to go through training, especially if she had to act like a man 24/7. Once they drove up to the main yard, her mind set changed. She didn't want to go through training but she knew she had to and she was going to. She saw a bunch of soldiers and knew she would be among them soon. Peggy drove right up to a building hidden behind a clump of trees.

"Um, Peggy, where are we going?" She asked. She looked at the huge grey building outside of the stopped car. Once they were out of the car and close to the door, Peggy answered the question.

"You didn't think you were just on the team without trying out did you? Nothing is set yet, but the four names you saw were the best right now but we want a team of five. You have to compete to get a spot."

"Why do I feel like you want to see the competition of everyone?" Florence asked not even the slightest bit fazed that she hid that from her. Peggy was competitive because she never wants to lose, and she probably bet that she would get the last person that was put on the team. Florence was competitive because she nearly always wins for she knows how people think, and she was going to show off and win for this.

The warehouse must have been the size of a full high school football field, including the track. It was fill to the roof with training equipment and had four huge training/fighting mats. Half of the things that were hanging on the wall, Florence had never even seen let along thought could be used as a weapon. There was a gardening hoe on the wall along with a shovel; who the hell thinks that can help in a war.

"What do you think?" Peggy asked with a raised eyebrow. She knew that Florence was just basking in the glory of the massive complex. Peggy, of course, had basically been living in it for almost two months; watching the talents and progress of the more promising recruits.

"Get used to this, you need to get up to floor one to even be considered." Peggy pointed to a mats on the far end of the warehouse.

"How long do I have to get there?" Florence asked, afraid that she would only have hours to show her skills. It's been a while so a warm up day would be useful.

"At the most, a month," Peggy said as she walked toward a door labeled 'Locker room'.

Florence rushed after her. This was going to either be stressful or easy or even fun. "Be ready to train in ten." Peggy left Florence in the middle of the empty room with a bag of men's workout clothing. She let out a breath to release her nerves and started to change.

She walked out of the room to find that only mat one had people on it, six men to be exact with one trainer who was more like a punching dummy. She saw Peggy sitting with a group of grumpy looking military men next to the mat and she motioned for her to walk over to them. Florence quietly waded her way to stand in front of the group and had the whole mat group stare at her.

Peggy motioned to her as she introduced her to everyone. "This is Fred Thorne, the man I told you about."

Everyone looked like they were sizing her up. She already looked weak with her short stature, not to mention the feminine looking arms and legs. Florence never had boobs to make her look like a girl to begin with, but they now seemed to big and made her self-conscious considering she had to be a man. She catch herself trying to gnaw on her lip, a bad habit of hers; she would look way too girly biting her plum lips in such a way.

A very tried old looking man in the middle of the group spoke first. "If he can prove that he's not a girl, we may consider him." He gave Peggy a hard stare that read 'we will talk later.'

Florence was pushed onto the mat and faced a stout, dark haired fellow. He gave her an unimpressed smirk, like he knew this wasn't going to be longer than half a minute. What he didn't realize was that he had been sparing with men of equal size, Florence was only about 120 lbs. of waiting muscle. Florence was waiting for him to make the first more, she could never overpower him but she could tire him out. His first move was to charge forward and swing a punch but only hit air and Florence pulled his punching arm back by climbing onto his back and pulling back and up. She pined him down to the mat by using all of her body weight on his neck, making him fall back out of need for oxygen. She jumped up from the mat standing up ready for his next move; he was too shocked by her moves to attack again.

She looked over to her audience. They all wore the same look of shock; someone so small and fragile looking just took down one of the most promising recruits. "Did I do something wrong?" Florence asked, trying her hardest to sound like she had a deeper voice than she normally would.

"Pipsqueak, you just did better than the meatballs that have worked to be up here for a month," the grumpy man said again. He reached out his hand for Florence to shake; she shakily took his hand and tried to give it a manly squeeze. "I'm Colonel Chester Phillips, Pipsqueak. Welcome to Project Wolf."

She nodded respectfully and took a step back. "Line up everybody! Pipsqueak, you're at the end. Because Thorne has just taken down one of the best recruits we have, he will take one of your spots. If I were you would get to work so I wouldn't leave this mat."

Like trained dogs, they all dispersed, running for training tools. She looked over to Colonel Phillips for her instructions. "You will be trained by Agent Carter. Have a nice day Pipsqueak." He left the warehouse and the group of officers behind him followed.

"Lets begin," Peggy had a particular looking in her eye that she had when she was planning something. "By the time I'm done with you, you will have mastered all weapons." She smiled, grabbing a fighting stick-thingy and throwing one to Florence.

"The weapon you will use the most aside from guns is a stick. It could be anything from a gardening tool to a twig from a dead tree. You need to know basic ways to use each."

"Peggy, that's carzy. I know how to use a twig to defen-"

"I'm talking about the thing in your hand, Flor-Fred." She put one hand on her waist. "Lets get started."


	4. Shipping Somewhat Out

Its almost June in Camp Lehigh. Nothing has changed except the camp is empty aside form the recruits for Project Wolf Pack. Some of the soldiers from the camp have been put on the program, but none of them have made it to mat one. Florence has been on mat one since day one, the short, stout man had been kicked to mat two. No one had discovered her secret but it was only a matter of time. Colonel Phillips and his gang of high ranking officers are close to a decision; Peggy and left a week ago to go off and oversee the troops for Phillips while he stayed and pick the perfect team.

Today was the day though, the day that the team was chosen. Only mat one knew because, "everyone else is obsolete compared to you six." Florence never thought in that way. She was always one to give everyone a fair chance and save everyone no matter how much wrong doing. So, trying to kill Hitler was going to be hard but it would save her country and the world from farther harm.

"Line up, men. Today is the final day of 'tryouts.' Make it your best," the Colonel yelled to everyone. Once everyone was at their respective mats, he spoke to the men of mat one. "Today is sparing day for all of you. Use whatever you can get your hands on, Just don't kill anybody. First up, Washington and Moore. You have five minutes. Go."

He sat down with his officers and watched to battles unfold. First it was Paul vs. David, than Florence vs. Glenn, than Samuel vs. Walter. All of the fights were five minutes long, only Sam and Walter's ended with someone on the ground. This was the only thing they did that day and then they were sent back to the barracks. Everyone but Florence was happy-dory. She was worried that she would not get to see anyone if she did not make it on the team. At the same time she was also worried that she would get hurt and never see anyone again. _Maybe I was wrong to go along with Peggy,_ she thought cleaning up her bed a little.

David sat down on the bed across from her. "Why are you being such a cold fish today?"

"Oh, I'm just thinking," she said startled. "I think this might be a bad decision on my part."

David sat down next to her on her bed. "What makes you say that? You said yourself that there is nothing here for you and, I quote, "the best thing I can do is help protect my country." So, what's making you change your mind?"

"My cousin is the only family I have and I haven't told him anything about this. I'm just afraid that he'll go over to my place and freak because I'm not there. He's always overreacting to everything, I'm just afraid he'll throw this all out of proportion."

"I thought you see that no one living was here?"

"He's in the war, its just I don't know if he's coming back or even when."

"You must be really close to your cousin. Do you think you'll see him over there?"

"I hope so, he's always been my older brother." Just then, a whistle blow and everyone had to leave. David nodded and ran up to meet Walter and Glenn.

She followed everyone out of the barrack, back to the warehouse. Every single recruit was called into the locker room, one by one. It took nearly an hour just for line of people to get the Florence. David went in before her. Once she was inside, it was only her and Colonel Phillips. He sat behind a desk with the only light in the whole room. He looked like that one angry teacher that always held you in for detention for asking for a pencil. "Take a seat, Fred."

She sat across from him. On the desk, there were four files each with the red classified stamped on it. He opened on of them and read what was in it; it looked like notes of some sort. "So, you have shown great skill in using your opponents momentum and mass against them. You have also shown great skill in using your lightweight and small body as a weapon. You also seem to use your surroundings a lot more than your opponents" He paused and closed the file folder and looked up. "What I want to know Mr. Thorne is why Peggy thought you were the best addition to this team? You don't have brute strength or a huge size advantage over anyone. The only thing that might save you over seas is your intellect. Your like Erskine's Rogers. That kid needs a burger just to pretend to look tough."

Florence looked down at her hands. "I truly want your answer Pipsqueak."

She coughed slightly to get a deeper voice. "Well, I think she wants me on the team because I can get into buildings without being noticed better than any of your other choices."

"Fred, I want a truthful answer."

"She might have thought I was a good choice because I think so differently from everyone else." All Florence wanted was for him to lose his interest in why she was Peggy's first choice. "I really don't know why she wanted me on the team."

"Good, 'cause I have no idea. All I know is that she is never wrong and you are a great, resourceful fighter. Be ready to ship out in a day," he said quickly handing Florence a classified folder. "See you in the morning."

And with that she went out the side door and was in the blinding midday sun. She found David sitting on the stairs to the bunkhouse. He stood up when he saw she coming toward the building. A smile spread across his face when he saw the file in her arms. "So, you got in too! That's great."

Florence sat down on the stairs with him. She was still a little shocked that she was on the team; Peggy must have known what she was doing putting her on the team._ I just hope I don't screw up, _she thought.

"What was that?" David asked, skeptical of what he just heard. It didn't sound like Fred, but it came out of his mouth. That's when the idea that Fred was hiding something major from him started.

Florence's hands shot up to her mouth. "Did I say that out loud? Sorry," she was trying so hard to make her voice sound less like it did a second ago.

David just raised and eyebrow but continued to wait for everyone else. He was going to talk to Glenn about it. he knew Fred was hiding something now and he was going to find out.


	5. Behind the Frontlines

p style="text-align: justify;"span style="font-size: 13pt;"span style="font-family: georgia;" David, Florence, Walter, Glenn, and Paul were on a plane, a plane that would take them to Switzerland. Switzerland was a free land close to Germany, but was right in the middle of the taken territories. It was lucky that the Allies had started to make progress it freeing countries. This was the first time many of them have flown in an airplane. Colonel Phillips was going to somehow get them to were they need to be and then they're on their own. Florence had no idea what to think was going to happen. Colonel Phillips and Paul were the only ones with experience from World War I, and Florence never dreamt about wars in her free /br / They landed harshly in Switzerland, they were instantly put into a military truck. It had Nazi symbols painted on it instead of the Allies. "The rides going to be bumpy fellas. Be ready for anything," Colonel told everyone. They all sat in the back of the truck, silence enveloping them as the drove. No one knew what to except only that they were going to be on their own. Florence looked around at their faces, all of them holding a different emotion. Everyone was clueless as to what to do after we were dropped. Paul just looked exhausted, his head leaned up against the wall. Walter looked scared, his eyes wide looking at one pointed in between David's feet and listening for any odd noises. Glenn looked nervous bouncing his leg and looking through the book he already read twice on the plane ride. David had a stern look of hidden emotion but kept looking over all of his teammates to make sure they were all still /br / The sudden halt of the truck threw Florence to the ground and woke everyone from their thoughts. David helped she to her feet but his mind was reeling to figure out what had stopped their trip. Colonel Poked his head into the back. "We drop you here. All you need to do is see if there is anyone affiliated with Hitler in there and not the Nazi party but that they actually know where he is. Good luck."br /br / Florence went to say something but he was already gone, he and the driver had ditched the truck and were clearly going to hide it the woods. She looked over to everyone else to see them already devising a plan. She sat down listening to what Paul thought would happen and what David planned to do in those situations. The plan that they finally decided on was for Paul was going to scope out the warehouse and report back to David. Then, if there were few men inside, Florence would make her way in and tie up everyone so they can be questioned. It there are too many for her to take down, Walter and Glenn would join her and David and Paul would attack from the only side and the captured would still be /br / "Lets try this out," Paul said, standing up and making his way out of the truck. He almost instantly came back. "We need a new plan," he said, motioning for us to follow him. Once they reached the edge of the clearing where the warehouse was. It was a little more guarded than they thought it was going to be. Guards were heavily armed and made a circle around the /br / "We need to attack from a place close to the woods," Florence said slowly as she started up the fence. David grabbed her /br / "What are you doing, They'll see you," he said trying to pull her /br / "That's the point, now go over behind the warehouse," she said, Walter and Glenn already going into position. Paul pulled David away and Florence pulled herself over the fence. Her plan was to make a huge noise. An explosion will do./span/spanbr / /p  
div style="text-align: center;"span style="font-size: 13pt;"span style="font-family: georgia;"~*~*~*~/span/span/div  
div style="text-align: justify;"br /span style="font-size: 13pt;"span style="font-family: georgia;" David watched 'Fred' disappear over the fence and focused on the plan that Fred just created. "We wait for the guards to disappear and then we charge in," he told his waiting friends. In truth he was worried about Fred. He was just so fragile looking and he just volunteered as a diversion./span/spanbr /br / span style="font-size: 13pt;"span style="font-family: georgia;"There was a huge explosion on the other side of the warehouse and all of the guards disappeared. They all jumped to their feet and started to sprint into the building. They made it into the building and discovered it almost empty except for three guards around a brightly lite office. Paul dispatched of them quickly and the four of them charged into the office to fine a man sitting in the middle of the room. Shock and anger filled his eyes but his face stayed emotionless. David looked over to Paul of instructions, but Paul just took the man into his fists and laid him out on the table./span/spanbr /br / span style="font-size: 13pt;"span style="font-family: georgia;""You're going to tell me where the closest base is," he nearly spat into his face. The man tried to speak in German with fear reaching his face and Paul started his interrogation in German./span/spanbr /br / span style="font-size: 13pt;"span style="font-family: georgia;"After nearly five minutes, he threw the man onto the ground and ran out of the room. He didn't seem angry or worried, but the last thing that the German man had told him had hit a soft spot. Once they were outside they found Fred collapsed in the clearing with soldiers surrounding him. The four men ran out to save him, but the soldiers did little fighting as they ran into the warehouse to find their failed leader, shouting scared German gibberish; Paul seemed to pick up on some of it and slowed down to a walk with disbelief written across his face. David slid to him on his knees, and noticed how fragile and feminine he looked. His shirt was ripped and torn. Paul looked wide eyed at the small person if front of them./span/spanbr /br / span style="font-size: 13pt;"span style="font-family: georgia;""David, put her down," he said sternly. "She doesn't belong here."/span/spanbr /br / span style="font-size: 13pt;"span style="font-family: georgia;""Paul, that's a little rude don't you think," Glenn said, trying to defend their passed out friend. "So what he looks a little like a gal, don't call him one."/span/spanbr /br / span style="font-size: 13pt;"span style="font-family: georgia;""Glenn, I'm not joking." A serious expression was looking back at Glenn. "Those soldiers were screaming about a 'animal of a woman' killing them. Fred isn't anything he seems he is. All we can do is take him back and see what Colonel Phillips knows and hope for the best."/span/spanbr /br / span style="font-size: 13pt;"span style="font-family: georgia;"The group looked down at their comrade in disbelief of the new information. "Why would... she hide that she was a woman from us?" David asked./span/spanbr /br / span style="font-size: 13pt;"span style="font-family: georgia;""Why else? She wouldn't be allowed to fight in a war if she was a woman," Paul said with a hint of sarcasm. He picked up the so-called-Fred and began walking toward where the truck was parked./span/spanbr /br / span style="font-size: 13pt;"span style="font-family: georgia;"This mission was supposed to be a great victory, and it was. Then Florence had to get hurt and mucked it up. And she still thought that her little secret was still secret when she woke up./span/spanbr / /div  
div style="text-align: center;"~*~*~*~/div  
div style="text-align: justify;"br / span style="font-size: 13pt;"span style="font-family: georgia;"Florence fluttered her eyes as light broke through a rip in the tent next to her. Her head was pounding but other than that she felt fine. She tried to sit up but was push down onto the rock of a mattress that was given to her. She looked up to see Colonel Phillips with a look of disappointment. "Mr. Thorne, we have a lot to talk about."/span/spanbr /br / span style="font-size: 13pt;"span style="font-family: georgia;""What happened? Did something go wrong?" She asked nervously, forgetting to change her voice and realized it to late. And he did to, as anger replaced disappointment./span/spanbr /br / span style="font-size: 13pt;"span style="font-family: georgia;""I figured out why Carter wanted you on this team. She knew that she would be in contact with this team more than I would and she wanted someone to talk to I guess and you were her first pick. Now, are you going to tell me your real name or am I just going to feed you to the men who trusted you instead?"/span/spanbr /br / span style="font-size: 13pt;"span style="font-family: georgia;"Her eyes feel to her fidgeting hands. Her eyes started to get glassy, she didn't want to be sent back and she didn't want anybody to be this untrusting of her. "My name is Florence Quinn."/span/spanbr /br / span style="font-size: 13pt;"span style="font-family: georgia;""Good girl. Now Paul told me that the German soldiers were shouting 'animal of a woman' when they ran away from them. Is there anything else you need to tell me?" He asked, think that she had some super power./span/spanbr /br / span style="font-size: 13pt;"span style="font-family: georgia;""No sir, nothing like that. I just know how to fight really well, my father was kind of insane," she said. "I don't have the power to turn into anything if that's what you're asking, sorry."/span/spanbr /br / span style="font-size: 13pt;"span style="font-family: georgia;""Oh, darling, you don't need to apologize to me. You need to a apologize to the people that thought they knew you." He left the medical tent and it was flooded with the team. Anger, frustration, disappointment, and disbelief flowed off of all of them. Florence just wanted to disappear into the pillows behind her head. The sadest look came from David; he almost looked heartbroken. Before she could even apologize, Walter and Glenn were throwing out accusations that she was a liar and only thought about herself./span/spanbr /br / span style="font-size: 13pt;"span style="font-family: georgia;""Fellas, that's enough," Paul stopped them. "What is your real name? Since we did spend the last two months thinking you were just a tiny boy, I think that is the least that you could tell us."/span/spanbr /br / span style="font-size: 13pt;"span style="font-family: georgia;"Florence shot up from her position on the medical bed. "My name is Florence and I am so sorry you had to find out that way. I was going to tell you later because I knew that this was how you were going to react. I just wanted to be your friend. We are stuck on this mission who knows how long, I didn't want you guys to go that whole time thinking of me as a fat-head and a traitor. I'm so sorry." She finally gave in to the tears that had threatened to spill since they entered the tent. "I'm so sorry."/span/spanbr /br / span style="font-size: 13pt;"span style="font-family: georgia;""Why are you saying sorry to us? We should be sorry that you had to lie to get here because you are one hell of a fighter," David spoke up for the first time. "Guys, we need her here and, you have to admit once your hairs starts to grow back, you'll be quiet the looker and them German won't be able to keep their eyes off you."/span/spanbr /br / span style="font-size: 13pt;"span style="font-family: georgia;""What are you saying? She's a call-girl to all of us soldiers? I think not," Walter said as he helped Florence out of the bed. "She can fall for our side thank you very much. She's too pretty for all of those Germans and she's too in love with our Americanism."/span/spanbr /br / span style="font-size: 13pt;"span style="font-family: georgia;"He smiled playfully as David hit him upside the head. Everyone looked over to Paul when he gave a grumpy huff. Paul was the father of the group, being five years older than everyone but David who was only three years younger than Paul. "Give her a second chance Paul. This time she won't hide a secret as big as 'I'm a girl'. She already proved herself willing to give her life for the mission," David was trying to reason with Paul. Obviously, they were planning to tell me to go home, but most of them probably changed their minds./span/spanbr /br / span style="font-size: 13pt;"span style="font-family: georgia;"Paul gave an annoyed sign but nodded. Florence slowly wobbled over to him and gave him a hug. "Thank you. I'll try to tell you everything from now on."/span/spanbr /br / span style="font-size: 13pt;"span style="font-family: georgia;""Yah, yah, we should go talk to Phillips about our next move," he said, slightly smirking at how the boys just kind of ganged up on him to make Florence stay. "But no more secrets, from anybody. Understood?"/span/spanbr /br / span style="font-size: 13pt;"span style="font-family: georgia;"Everyone laugh but knew he was dead serious. "Now lets go talk to Phillips. I want to know what were are doing next because I have know idea what we are supposed to do with the information I got from that guy in the warehouse."/span/spanbr /br / span style="font-size: 13pt;"span style="font-family: georgia;""What did he say?" Walter asked like a child at a birthday party./span/spanbr /br / span style="font-size: 13pt;"span style="font-family: georgia;""The nearest Nazi base appearently is not to far from here so we better get moving." And with that everyone left the room and headed out to Colonel Phillips./span/span/div 


	6. Deal With It

No one really know how to act around a woman who could beat their asses in an instant. Florence tried to act oblivious to how everyone was now treating her, but it was starting to get obnoxious. Every time she past by a soldier, a tip of the hat was given to her and the whispering that followed her was not welcome. Even Glenn and Walter acted differently around her. They tried to keep it the same, but everything changes when a girl is thrown into the mix. The old dirty jokes and one-on-one fighting disappeared over night. In a way, Florence was happy that this secret was no longer a secret, but was missing the old ways.

"Florence, we need you to watch the borderline." Paul broke her train of thought, throwing her a walkie-talkie. Another thing that changed was the fact that Paul never wanted to put her directly in harms way. So for the past three takeovers, she has been on recon out of the firing zone.

"Got it," she uttered sadly. She wanted to do something other than radio positions of enemies so they know which side of the building had more protection. Paul gave her a stern look and he walked away with the group.

Florence stood alone in the middle of a dirt road that led to their target area. All she needed to do was find a good tall branch that had a clear view over everything and just sit their. She gave a huff of anger and started her hunt. She found a tree that was almost twice as tall as the trees around it and started her climb. _He thinks he's protecting me but he's only hurting the team, _she thought to herself going on the regular internal rant. _I could take front and knock down everyone in my path. I could even go around the other way and still beat him to the target._

Florence instantly stopped moving when she saw light shinning from below her. Her breathing became silent as she looked below her to see blue, glowing guns on German soldiers walking toward the camp. Once they were out of hearing range, she sat on a branch and whispered into radio. "New glowy weapons on a group of six, west side."

When static reached her ears she new she had to take them on alone. "For the team, for the mission," she spoke, the words only ghosting past her lips. She made her way back down the tree and found a soldier standing alone on guard, the glowing gun blinding her. Whatever was in these weapons, it needs to go away. Florence can't do anything to him because of the damn light, it would make her blue if she came anywhere close to him. A scuffle in the fenced yard behind the guard got his attention and Florence made her move; she jumped up and cupped his mouth as she wrapped her arm around his neck, suffocating him to unconsciousness. She grabbed his blue, glowing gun and started toward the noise.

She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw a plethora of Nazi trucks, and one shinny black one in the middle of all of the mud-covered, battle-worn trucks. The small fight in the yard was Glenn versus everyone near him. He made eye contact with Florence; his eyes went wide for half a second and was knocked to the ground unconscious. Florence smiled at her chance to fight. She charged into the middle of the men surrounding her friend and fired away on the glowy weapon of destiny. The whole time that she watched men disappear she had a wide grin on her face that made her look like a crazy for an insane house, but she was getting her dream of actually fighting. As more and more men appeared, the crazier she seemed to become. The next thing that Florence knew, the gun as on the ground ten feet to her right, she was standing next to a dog pile of men, and she was at gun point to a crazed looking man.

"Now, dearie, why are you mucking up my meeting?" he asked like he thought he owned the world and no one could take him down. "I need an answer before I shoot you." His slight German accent bleeding through made Florence on edge.

"Oh quit trying to scare the girl, Shmidt," a voice said behind, authority ringing through the air. Although it was only the three of them awake enough to talk, the world seemed to stop. Revolving for a moment when Adolf Hitler stepped out behind this Shmidt character. Shmidt stood down but something in his eye made Florence think that he wanted to turn the gun at him.

"Now girly, I am going to give you one minute to spill you guts. And go," he told her. Florence looked behind the two men that were towering over her to find Paul and David's shocked faces and Walters was filled with fear. Shmidt looked behind him to find an empty wall as they left to devise a plan, if God was on her side.

"No one is coming to save you," Shmidt told her, pushing her to the ground.

A loud explosion tour through the silent air. Florence took her queue and rammed her foot into Shmidt's knee and grabbed his gun. Hitler stood no chance, but Shmidt put up more of a fight. Before Hitler could run, Florence somehow wrapped his arm for his leg with his belt while trying to keep Shmidt at bay. By the time she even saw a head pop up from the boarder, Shmidt was contained and Hitler was inoperable.

"Little girl, do you have any idea who will come after you now?" Hitler spoke as the rest of the team neared. "Do you have any idea what you have brought upon yourself?"

"I'll take my chances Hit," she told him with confidence. He scowled at her as she met the men.

Everyone seemed awe struck by her performance. "Can I be part of the team now?" she asked Paul. He stood with his arms crossed but he ad a smirk on his face. Glenn and Walter were standing next to her as her stood with her hands on her hips, waiting for his answer. SHe knew he couldn't refuse the deal.

"Any person who can take down Hitler should be on this team." Everyone cheered. David swung Hitler onto his back, gaged and tied and Walter carried Shmidt. Florence had a smile on her face, pride and excited to finally be part of the group. No one noticed the sly smirks on the Germans faces.

~*~*~*~

It was near midnight when everyone was asleep on the truck back to camp. Florence was bobbing in and out of sleep because no one was on guard. An explosion to the right of the truck made it flip in midair. Florence was ejected from the truck as trees was lite on fire. She was too shocked to even try anything. She was pulled from the wreckage and started to run was the group.

"What the _hell_ just happened?" Walter nearly screamed.

I crossed my arms in front of my face as branch after branch wacked me. "War against the Germans and we did just capture their leader. I think we were asking for it."

"We need to get to camp," Paul put in. "We'll deal with everything with the Colonel."


End file.
